This ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Theory Will Break Every Fan’s Heart

Fan theories swirl around Grey’s Anatomy the way danger and bad luck swirl around Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. But what if all that bad luck (two hospital shootings, a flood, an earthquake, a doctor hit by a bus, another hit by a semi-truck, another electrocuted… you get the idea) was more fiction than fact?

A new fan theory suggests that Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) has Alzheimer’s disease. With the debilitating disease, symptoms usually develop slowly and worsen over time, becoming severe enough to interfere with everyday tasks. Fans will remember that it’s the disease that led to the death of Ellis Grey (Kate Burton), Meredith’s mother, in season 3 — and that Meredith tested positive for several genetic markers for Alzheimer’s in season 9.

In fact, Alzheimer’s was first introduced to the show in the pilot episode, when Meredith’s voiceover narration was revealed to be a story she was telling her mother at an assisted living facility.

So what if Meredith’s subsequent voiceovers were stories she tells her three children sometime in the future? Perhaps some of her memories from over the years were altered by dementia, mixing fact with fiction.

More: Shonda Rhimes Reveals If ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Would Continue Without Ellen Pompeo

Much like the “If/Then” episode in which Meredith’s mom was never diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, changing many of the dynamics throughout the hospital, perhaps Future Meredith is supplying happier endings for her fellow interns than what really happened.

For example, in that alternate reality episode, George didn’t die in that bus accident but flunked his intern exam and was never heard from again, while Izzie was just an unstable intern who got fired after stealing a heart for her patient Denny (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Instead, Meredith remembers George dying a hero and Izzie bravely surviving cancer and going off on her own — relatively happier, or at least more meaningful, endings.

Ready for the big bomb? If the Alzheimer’s theory is true, perhaps Derek (Patrick Dempsey) didn’t die in season 11 while happily married to Meredith; perhaps, in reality, he left Meredith — but she doesn’t remember it that way.

If this wild theory is true, it’s a heartbreaking ending for Meredith, and everything she has feared since the beginning of the show.